The Justice and the Mare's Ale

by Alan Macfarlane

The Justice and the Mare's Law and Disorder in Seventeenth Century England

Genres: History

252 pages, Hardcover

First published March 26, 1981

About the author

Alan Macfarlane was born in Shillong, India, in 1941 and educated at the Dragon School, Sedbergh School, Oxford and London Universities. He is the author of over twenty books, including The Origins of English Individualism (1978) and Letters to Lily: On How the World Works (2005). He has worked in England, Nepal, Japan and China as both an historian and anthropologist. He was elected to the British Academy in 1986 and is now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and a Life Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.

Reviews

[Jacob Lehman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deep dive on the criminal activities of the Smorthwait brothers (William and Henry). Coin-clipping, burglary, and highway robbery until their hanging in 1684.

I read this book as a part of my project to read one book from every aisle in Olin Library. You can read more about the project, find reactions to other books, and (eventually) a fuller reaction to this one here: https://jacobklehman.com/library-read